Polly is a single mother.
She takes her daughter Alex (a two year
old infant) to a local playground. While lighting a cigarette,
Polly starts talking with another young parent, Piper. Polly is
distracted by Pipers’s good looks and charm. Meanwhile, Alex
starts to wander over to the road.
Plaintiff (Piper): It is a Negligence of mother if she takes her
daughter who is infant it is duty of her to take care of her.
Defendant (Polly): If the defendant had not acted negligently
(by breaching the standard of care), the plaintiff would not
have been injured. Thus it is cause in fact.
Piper notices a possible catastrophe and rushes out after Alex.
Piper just manages to save Alex from being run over by Bob,
who is driving a van within the speed limit and quite safely.
However, Piper has too much forward momentum and collides
with Bob’s van. Piper is seriously injured. Bob skids off the road
and crashes into some playground equipment. Luckily, no
children are using the equipment.
Plaintiff (Bob): It is negligence of piper as plaintiff was driving
safely and within the speed limit.
Defendant (Piper): Defendant can take Defense of necessity by
saying that it was duty of him to save girl from being run over
by a car.
Laura, driving at speed behind Bob, sees the above-related
events and puts her foot down hard on the brakes. Laura’s car
skids on an oil slick and crashes into a tree.
Plaintiff (Laura): It is an Assault and also negligence as Bob
failed to adopt possible duty of care for those around him.
Defendant (Bob): Defendant can take defense of inevitable
accident and also act of necessity.
Some distance behind the tree was Leonard. Leonard thought
that Laura’s car might hit him and he started running away
screaming ‘Oh Lord, don’t take me now!’ Leonard has an
underlying personality disorder and develops a paranoid fear of
going out into the street. As a result, he loses his job and his
livelihood.
Plaintiff (Leonard): Plaintiff may sue a case against Laura for an
act of Assault. Laura has to act prudently that time and in
saving herself she should take duty of care for others also.
Defendant (Laura): Defendant can take defense of inevitable
accident as the plaintiff was already suffering from underlying
personality disorder.
The accident involving Leonard is witnessed by Sherry,
Rhonda’s grandmother, who is also at the park. Sherry suffers
from a brief fright, but believes that she will be alright.
However, she later develops post-traumatic stress disorder as a
result of this event, combined with the news that Rhonda
barely escaped a serious injury. She had not seen the incident
involving Rhonda herself, because she had been busy setting
out the picnic lunch.
Plaintiff (Sherry): Assault
Defendant (Rhonda): inevitable accident
Q: Identify any actions available in the tort and analyze the
elements of the tort accordingly…..
